King Sisyphus' tooth

I dreamed the world is going to end. Everyone were on panic, except children and me. Some friends too but i think they were just uninformed or plainly blank. I walked through groups who camped by the bay like salvation armies, begging for spacecrafts rescue. While i and some blank friends visited elementary schools and jogged with exhausting carelessness like there is no tomorrow. Well, my human nature was too catatonic to panic because i know i was only dreaming and.... i have toothache.

Terribly aching, i both dreamed the end of the world and its disconfirmation- failure of world to end on schedule. The ache is Sisyphean, id choose doomsday over toothache.

choices

i am pissed off with people who chose choices and noisily rant its adverse consequences. how do we choose choices, by the way? in either way, rational or spontaneous, choices are not mere choices but responsibilities

Tax Tex Tix Tox Tux

"If the Government reduces the tax on oil/gasoline, then one alternative to generate the loss income is to put tax on SMS.......“Texting is also a source of negative reason…(and) it makes people more cynical"

- Secretary on Trade Peter Favila


then, a blogger disagreed with the idea and proposed more sin taxes and free SMS, considering text messaging now more as a need than a want. i disagreed.

i think Favila (though also have his own controversies) is right! he just delivered his message offensively.

the blogger and i fortunately agreed on three points:
1) finding an alternative source of public revenue after a proposed oil tax reduction;
2) sin products (alcohol and tobacco) as one alternative; and
3) penalties and fines as another source.

i however stressed on the sensibility of a clear proposal on SMS tax, given that there long has been sin taxes (in fact, it is one of government's urgent taxes for adjustment).

SMS tax is sensible enough because:
1. it has minimal negative effect to all, being a “suspendable or foregoable modern need”; and
2. it provides more public revenue to government, being necessarily embraced by a “taxpayer unit of texters, which are larger than the unit of drinkers and smokers.”

just like votes, tax is also a numbers game. the more, the better. and any govt would definitely tax on “more”.
eventually, SMS tax just felt bad to the blogger because texting became a “need” to him/her and to most of us. and i believe, taxing SMS is still sensible “along” with sin product taxes….because texting, almost closely similar to drinking and smoking, can be “suspended” or even “stopped/foregone” without DEPRIVING THE HUMAN NEED TO TALK/ASSOCIATE/RELATE. remember, humanity survived before the SMS technology. the real “basic” needs are food, water, sleep, shelter, clothes, not texting and drinking. you cant stay long without food, but you can without SMS.

SMS tax is crazy, indeed. for one because it is a “new” idea. and new ideas freak us most!

But think on this, …ever consider a higher (or 50% more expensive) taxi fare rate during midnight or a Ph18,000 fine for not flushing the toilet bowl in public comfort rooms? if it is crazy, please don't travel to the crime-free and lickably clean Singapore, where people are discretely discouraged to go out by midnight and disciplined for cleanliness. those are just one of those crazy policies of Singapore, but look at them!!! look at them now. we could had been like them if Marcos stayed more with his superior plans of a New Society, believed to be emulated by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yu and believed to parallel to the concept of Socialism and Communist.

finding more alternatives aside from SMS tax is not my responsibility though. i leave it to our more intellectual leaders, whether legitimate or not. though i believe our government as a whole is really questionable by performance. please, let us leave our leaders (either good or bad) do the thinking and building for our nation. building a nation is undeniably a hard task and i believe they can do deliver such task than leaving it to less superior intellectuals. remember we voted them. meaning we entrusted nation-building to them. if you believe election was corrupted and election is unrepairable, you can leave Philippines. wicked analysis though….if election was truly corrupted, it only meant a plausible superb effort that was intellectually planned by few individuals who I think is capable of governing wisely any country.

i do believe people cannot be governors and governed at the same time. and if we indeed proved our current “intellectual” leaders do rigged the election, would you allow nation-building to the masses? if ever you know intellectuals who are not in the government, please convince him/her to be in the government. if you dont have any alternative leaders, please be contented with our existing.

im also discontented with our country (not just the leaders, but also the voting masses) but im still hopeful and not leaving the country and doing everything to, at least, change how we look at governance and nation-building. democracy has done a lot of damage. do u think, we'd still stick with it?

I am suffering multi-personality disorder

I dwell in my past with overcritical view, live my present spontaneously with complacent randomness but consistently directed by the future with careful planning.

So, if you happen not to understand me or see me inconsistent, forbid me i am disordered. Instead, consult my doctor. :-D

Marcos Still is the Best President

“The whole history of government shows that public affairs would be better administered and the welfare of the people better served in the hands of a moral and intellectual aristocracy. The people cannot be governors and governed at the same time …. On the other hand, a good and efficient government, a benevolent government, may exist and continue indefinitely to function with admirable harmony, when men of superior moral and intellectual endowments are in control of the state.”

-President Jose P. Laurel, 1943

Not For OFWs and International Travelers

when peso-dollar hits PhP41=$1, did the exchange affect your life? how?

my reply was a pushy yes-no, while my colleague has a rigid no and a conforming yes. and this warmed the gloomy day.

i honestly agreed with him during the debate, but not on how he looks through complicated things. his are just too plain, characterized by "oversimplified accounting of a multi-faceted" issue that best compounds a common knowledge. a knowledge often embraced by most because of convenience and conformity. and this irritated me

the plain analysis held though a gripping reality that automatically receives nods, when verified with others. but it misses tons of bright sides that give us happiness and hope in the (troubled, as optional) world. and this frustrated me more

It's un-Rocket Science

I am instantly engrossed to anybody who writes about "development", esp..those who offer doable solutions. I'm not a preacher nor an obvious doer, but I'm working on it...carefully.

I found the following lines profound and reflective:

1) isn't it wonderful if all kinds of people (whatever their status) have had a great time during those significant days?
2) And if only they were as lucky as we are
3) Only if the government has truly made its duty, only if we care, only if...
4)Aren't you embarrassed of making your stomach bloat while they suffer in hunger?....
5) Why on earth nobody could help these people, these children?
6) If other countries have made it, why couldn't we? Why not dear Philippines? Is it really because of apathy? or greed? or what not?

Life is fair, in its most profound definition. ever asked the "impoverished" (as society would call them) if they're happy? you'd be surprised, some of them are having a great time and living happily. ever checked one of those survey results citing "economically poor" people responding, "they are not poor"?

happiness (fairness, likewise) is just so relative. look! filipinos even ranked 2nd happiest people in the world next to Indians..despite being one of the weak Asian tigers.

but undeniably, life-is-fair concept is too bleak. but we, OURSELVES, made/allowed life to be unfair. we...or say, the poor ones...allowed themselves to be poor. they never strived (studied, saved, consumed less, planned family and anything that defines "worldly success") for better life. of course, famous blames or reasons often are directed to the GOVERNMENT, SYSTEMS etc.

o well, those all rooted down from.....GUESS WHAT??.....US! OURSELVES! TAYO! SARILI NATIN! our government would never be there without us. systems would never be there without us. etc would never be there without us. OURSELVES, being God's stewards, influence everything, even the typhoons (ask Al Gore).

we all have a stake on why an unfair life existed.

though, my heart also empathize with what the "society calls" poor, i really have a clouded understanding why human nature OFTEN FAILS TO LITERALLY LOOK INSIDE FOR EXPLANATIONS AND SOLUTIONS.

this time, ask not the people around you. whether rich or middle class, ask yourself the same relative and simple questions: why cant i buy a Jaguar? why dont i hold a CEO position? why dont i have a high-paying job? why cant i have a full regular meal a day? why cant i regularly stay in Marco Polo hotel? why cant i buy Louis Vuitton? why do i have dry skins? why do i have dirty/polluted room? why cant i live like the people i looked up?

reasons would definitely vary from no money to no work experience, no excellent academic background, no regular savings, poor hygienic practices, no self-initiatives etc. ever sense all the reasons boiled down to yourself? did government and system ever surface? hmmm...barely there.

again, i believe ourselves could best save us and make life better. if we dont strive, we dont earn a better life. there had been a lot of rug-to-riches story to affirm to what i believed in. any weak government and oppressive systems couldnt influence A LOT to our STATUS QUO. they only serve as support systems, not entirely prime success factors.

and yes! we still are luckier (if youd push me to compare with other countries). most of us just didnt see the bright realities.

ever wonder why chunks of funds from the richest philantrophists rarely reach Philippines, instead to Africa? simply because we are better-off! asked any Filipino international volunteers and youd be surprised theyd ALL say, OUR COUNTRY IS BETTER. travel and youd see, Filipinos are happier despite being coined "impoverished".

solutions are not rocket science. they all are basic and starts from each of us.